A Conversation with The Gatekeeper

A Dead Man meets The Gatekeeper who is about to usher him to Afterlife.

Dead Man: Am I in Paradise?
The Gatekeeper: Paradise? You just left Paradise.

Dead Man: Then, what is this place? Hell?
The Gatekeeper: Hell is the place where you can do wrong. Not here.

The Gatekeeper: You are in Afterlife, where there is no judgment, no consequences, no rewards, no sin, nothing.

Dead Man: Then, what’s the point of it?
The Gatekeeper: Death is the ultimate destination of life: a point of no point. What makes you think that a man’s life can have a point in this borderless universe?

Dead Man: What about all the good deeds that I have done?
The Gatekeeper: You have just proven to yourself that all of them are vain.

The Gatekeeper: Good or bad, who has the right to describe? You helped an old lady crossing the street once. You did not know she actually went to a nearby bridge to jump off and end her life. You slept with other man’s wife once, only to give her a chance to prove that she was still worth it – unlike what her husband thought. Good or bad, it is just a matter of viewpoint.

The Gatekeeper: Whatever a man did in his life, how would it mean so much in this indescribable universe? Vanity is doing deeds that you describe as good, then expecting Heaven as the paycheck. And, as for your deeds that you describe as bad, the closest persons in your life are getting the consequences down there right now. What would be the point for you to suffer the consequences here?

Dead Man: What should I do here in Afterlife?
The Gatekeeper: Here is the end. You should have done and been whatever you want down there.

Dead Man: Then, what is there behind the gate that you are keeping?
The Gatekeeper: I am here only to inform you, that as you step forward to pass the gate, your consciousness will be no more. And, to answer your questions if you want to either torture or satisfy yourself with more of my answers.

Dead Man: But, all of my life, I had been wishing for Heaven. I had been raised to live only to end life itself in Heaven.
The Gatekeeper: The living has no idea about us here, the dead. Yet, they make rules on how to get here, then trick and stumble each other, as if life is a race to a finish line with big rewards. You have had your own Heaven. Your own Heaven was in the smile of the people that you have lent your hands for. How would you ask for more for yourself?